Why do you care if people read your food diary?
Replies
-
Another thing is when it's just me looking at it, I know I'll be completely honest in logging, and not have what I eat or log influenced by thoughts of people reading my diary and judging or my needing to be "a good example" to anyone who might read it for "inspiration."
I'm not 100% confident that I would successfully resist letting those thoughts influence what I eat or how I log.12 -
I don’t care what others eat and wonder why anyone would care what I eat. It’s not inspirational to me, as tastes differ so much. I’m a lone wolf, and don’t need approval, or disapproval, to succeed. I love to cook, and Google is a great tool for finding recipes/ingredients that will fit into my family’s life style and taste and calorie budget.6
-
This was therapeutic. Several of us feel the same way and it has nothing to do with hiding.6
-
Let me turn this question around: Why would you put your private information out on the internet?15
-
Why not? Why do you care if people have their diary set to private?9
-
tracybear86 wrote: »People with eating disorders can find even the thought of people possibly judging what they eat triggering. There really is no reason to look through other people's diaries unless they ask for advice. 🤷♀️ As stated above unless you know specifics about that person it is completely without context.
I didn't think of that, that's a really good point.0 -
cyaneverfat wrote: »Someone sent me judgemental private messages about what I was eating and it annoyed me. Like, don't drink tomato juice, it has lots of sugar. Plus, I am like the other person here who doesn't log every day.
I'm sorry to hear that. It's disappointing, especially when this is supposed to be a supportive forum.1 -
Because my diet isn't like other peoples, its not even close to perfect, and people send rude comments sometimes. I'm not interested. I'm stressed enough. And I dont plan on changing what I'm eating because it makes me feel good and anytime I mess with it im starving.
I'm sorry to hear about the rude comments, it's completely unnecessary2 -
Why not? Why do you care if people have their diary set to private?
I sometimes find it interesting to read food diaries, to see what works for others in their weight loss journey.
Thank you to the people who have answered my question. 🙏
Some really good points have been mentioned, ones I didn't even think of.2 -
domeofstars wrote: »This is a question for the people who have their food diary set to private. I'm just wondering why you care if people read it?
because it is nobody's business. I mean that in the nicest way of course.8 -
I'm not really bothered either way. I have it on Public, as I don't care if someone looks at it or not. And a while ago I had a question here on the forum for which it was handy that people could see my general diet.
I sometimes look at other people's diaries, but truthfully, half the time I don't even know their products as a lot of my MFPs are in the US and I wouldn't recognise their entries.2 -
I had several issues with food in my teens, being secretive about food has stayed with me, although I no longer eat in secret! Being honest about what I eat on a daily basis was the first step. I might be tempted to leave things out if it was open. Then I need to stop feeling ashamed by what I eat (even though it's at a deficit). Then I will share. I am not there yet.8
-
Companies already have access to a scary amount of everyone's data and use it to target them. No need to make it easier for them. Of course even if it is marked as private then I suspect that data is being accessed by and sold to various third parties anyways.8
-
I personally don't care as I stopped logging here and use another better app. Mine has always been public.
I can understand why someone would keep it private. To each their own.1 -
I'm a fairly private person and don't add many friends on here as it is. To me it's no one else's business, unless I ask a question for feedback. I want to be able to honestly log. I'll be the only one to know if being over was planned, a binge, just over for that day, or bad week etc. I have no interest in what someone else's is either so assume mine would be of no interest to them.4
-
I had mine open for awhile and got tired of the snarky judgy comments I would get about my food amounts and choices... I am very monogomus in what I eat - it does not bother me to eat the same foods over and over again, but apparently it bugs other people who have been on this site and more than one of them has tried to make an issue about it with me... after the 2nd or 3rd time, I closed the diary and solved the problem.11
-
1. Because it's only part of the equation; it's like telling someone how much money you spend but they have no idea how much you make.
2. Nutritional requirements are very individual so I don't see what they could possibly gain by seeing what I eat.
I don't care if they know, but I don't want them making any comments or suggestions and I feel like letting them see is going to invite input. If they're looking for meal ideas, fine. But I know what I'm doing and I really don't want any "don't you know carbs make you fat?" or any other suggestions.9 -
Lots of reasons.
I’ve been through (and discharged from) eating disorder treatment. The way I was eating in recovery was decided on with the RD in that program. Not the advice of mfp people who think they know best.
I work with a coach who helps me achieve various fitness goals. What I eat and when I eat it (stacking intake/certain macros in preparation for or recovery from certain events/workouts) is something we experiment with to find the best mix. Again-that’s something where his input matters and not the advice of mfp people who think they know best.
I am an endurance athlete with an unusual blood sugar issue (it goes very high during long runs). I also have cholesterol issues that respond well to a low fat diet. My diet focuses on managing both of these issues and not the advice of mfp people who think they know best.
On any day/week/month I may be eating at a deficit, or maintenance or a surplus - or banking calories or eating banked calories or anywhere in between. My calorie goal number may not reflect my actual calorie goal for the day. A 6000 calorie day may very well be planned and exactly correct for my goals. It may even be lower than what I needed to eat. An 800 calorie day may also be planned and perhaps high for where that day fits in my overall plan. My intake is based on a lot of factors that aren’t reflected in my diary - and not the advice of mfp people who think they know best.
I’ve been doing this 9 years. I’ve logged every meal, every day. I have a pretty good idea of what I need to eat, how I need to eat (timing/calorie distribution), my thresholds for satiety/performance/hunger, etc, and how various things affect me. I am not seeking any dietary advice. I don’t need comments suggesting that I should try some wheatgrass nonsense instead of coffee, or if I tried keto, or why is my sugar intake so high (on days I run 20+ miles and fuel it with....sugar) because that’s not good for me or the concerned comments that I’m only eating 1200 calories (my TDEE is 1600...) or “tomorrow is another day” or “do I have someone to talk to about my binge” because I ate 4000 (TDEE was 3800) and on and on and on and on and on.
So my diary has a passcode so the people whose input is valuable can access it. Everyone else has no reason to be in it and my life is 1000000000 times less stressful without the peanut gallery offering their input.
I will tell you what I ate if it makes that big a difference to you. Although I can’t imagine it would matter.5 -
Mine was public at one point when I was actively losing (I've been in maintenance for a while) and participated on my feed. I never got negative comments on it, and I also never looked at anyone else's (since that seems boring to me, as my tastes are unlikely to be theirs), but I didn't mind sharing, and some seemed to like to look at other people's diaries.
Now I don't log regularly and when I do it's not here, and I don't interact with my feed at all. Even if I logged here I'd probably keep it closed unless I needed help of some sort that required someone else looking at my logging.1 -
Because what I eat is private. Increasingly, our society has lost a normal sense of privacy. Unless I wish for some reason to broadcast exactly what I eat out to thousands of unknown strangers, what I eat is no one else’s business, as is how I dress, my bowel habits etc. It’s a strange world that expects everyone to be living on stage continually. It’s not healthy to expect such intimate knowledge of strangers, especially if they don’t wish to provide it. Boundaries exist for very good reasons.19
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.5K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 382 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.6K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.1K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 878 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions